Michigan 18, Penn State 13
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Throw out the records. Ignore the lack of offense. Forget that Penn State's offensive line looks eerily like Michigan's 2013 O-line.
Michigan won a game tonight in front of a packed house of genuinely excited fans, and it felt damn good. Maybe not for much of the game, an ugly slog in which the two teams combined for just 470 yards of offense, several Wolverines went down with injuries—including Devins Gardner and Funchess—and both coaching staffs seemed intent on out-bungling the other, but come that final drive, it felt like Michigan football should.
The stars of this game, without a doubt, were on defense. The Wolverines limited PSU to just 214 yards, with a paltry 65 in the second half after Michigan came out a little flat against the run. Six different Wolverines accounted for the team's six sacks. Jourdan Lewis came up with a critical second-half interception when the defensive front nearly got to Christian Hackenberg again, forcing an ill-advised throw across the field. Mike McCray anticipated a fake punt and displayed tantalizing athleticism in hawking Grant Haley to blow it up two yards behind the line.
When Penn State needed a field goal to tie with 3:44 left, the defense came through with their biggest possession of the night, as Jake Ryan and Frank Clark sacked Hackenberg on consecutive plays to force the Nittany Lions into punt formation from just outside their own goal line. PSU coach James Franklin bizarrely called a timeout to avoid a delay of game—one that would have cost his team about half a yard—before making the correct call to take a safety and go for an onside kick.
What happened next perhaps made up for the blown call at the end of last week's Rutgers game. Penn State recovered the initial kick, but a questionable flag for offsides negated it, and Blake Countess fell onto the ensuing re-kick without any trouble to effectively end game.
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
In feelingsball world, however, the star of this game was Devin Gardner, who recovered from a bad interception and an ugly-looking ankle injury to engineer the game-winning field goal drive. Gardner's numbers didn't look great—16/24, 192 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT—but without him on the field for two second-half drives, the offense looked helpless with Russell Bellomy at quarterback. Gardner may be inconsistent—yes, often infuriatingly so—but there's no question he's by far the most capable leader of this offense, and it showed most tonight during his brief absence.
Devin Funchess scored Michigan's lone touchdown of the evening in the first quarter, somehow chasing down a Gardner moonshot and snatching it away from PSU safety Ryan Keiser, who looked like he was preparing to field a punt—after a bobble, Funchess secured the ball and streaked towards the home sideline, arms raised in triumph.
That turned out to be the only touchdown the Wolverines would need, with Matt Wile providing the decisive points on field goals of 45, 42, and 37 yards.
Granted, the running game proved non-existent, the offense remained relatively ineffective, and Brady Hoke gifted Penn State a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half by inexplicably taking a timeout with three seconds left on the clock. Those are concerns, to be sure, but they're concerns for another day.
Tonight, we celebrate. Hail to the victors, valiant.
October 12th, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
Dance like nobody is watching.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:26 PM ^
Hail! I don't know maybe a moment of silence, or at least we can stop booing at games. Yea we won, we don't have to be thrilled about the trajectory of this team, but lets enjoy this. Let the kids enjoy this. Maybe we shouldn't get in the elevator with James Franklin and one of the TV broadcasters and announce that an M 'fan' wants to see the team lose so we can fire the coach. CRAZY that's a story told on air tonight. I'm more worried about the trajectory of our fan base than the team. I love M and I'm not satisfied but I'll be damned before I wish a loss on our Wolverines.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:54 PM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:00 AM ^
You can understand an M grad/student/fan wishing a loss on the team? Well I guess you're in a much different place than I am. I said we shouldn't be satisfied I guess that's not enough for you? You think it's okay to het in an elevator with the opposing teams coach and wish him a W in our house, in The Big House? Okay then you're why I worry about the fan trajectory.
October 12th, 2014 at 1:37 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
It shouldn't.
Unfortunately for us, it's not the reason. We wanted him gone at the beginning of the season when we thought we were doing to go 10-2.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:27 PM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:28 PM ^
out in force. Obviously they got the "Save Brady" memo. Rod Gilmore didn't, though.
October 12th, 2014 at 4:06 AM ^
Our DL were getting blatantly held all night! And how about Gardner getting clubbed in the head on the key Norfleet completion? Should've tacked 15 onto that play.
No, the refs did NOT give M this game.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!
¿Dónde están los muppets?
October 12th, 2014 at 1:39 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
Of course nobody, not even Saint Brian, believed Michigan was going to win last night. So nice of you to point out that though they weren't favored to win, their win is nevertheless meaningless because PSU.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^
keep winning under the lights. Tough call on that onsides kick, but their big tight end broke the plane Time for some guys to get healthy.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:30 PM ^
Better to win an ugly slog than to lose one. Gardner was a true leader. out there Seeing him scream at the D near the end to hold that lead was moving. Glad too that the attendance was a legit 113,000. However you feel about DB and Hoke--and I have a negative regard for both--the team needed that.
October 12th, 2014 at 1:16 AM ^
It was great to see Gardner up and yelling like that. That's the first visible sign of life I've seen from one of the leaders this year. Seeing the sidelines swinging towels on the defensive stands was really nice too.
October 12th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
I like that Gardner screamed at Defense. Showed leadership and that the whole team is in it together. Not just the O doing their thing and the D doing their thing.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:30 PM ^
From the NCAA rulebook: http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR14.pdf
Rule 2 (Definitions):
Page FR-33:
ARTICLE 5. A restraining line is part of a vertical plane that limits a team’s alignment for free kicks. The plane extends beyond the sidelines [emphasis added]
Then, again, page FR-35:
Offside
ARTICLE 2. After the ball is ready for play [...]
Offside occurs when one or more players of the kicking team are not behind their restraining line when the ball is legally free-kicked (Exception: The kicker and holder are not offside when they are beyond their restraining line) (Rule 6-1-2).
The call is indisputably correct; the player's head was offsides, as shown in the screen capture above. It's not clear that the announcing team understood the rule, which certainly didn't help things.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:46 PM ^
Once again the announcing consisted largely of buffonery. At one point they blathering on about how PSU played Rutgers last week.
I sure wish I could figure out a way to easily sync Brandstatter with the video feed.
October 12th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
There's a market for that sync. I've tried it, but it's too far off.
October 12th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
and it will sync the radio feed with the video feed. It's not perfect -- it will glitch every inning or so (the video will get stuck in a loop until the audio sync's and vice/versa).
I have no idea how the software works, but it is pretty cool.
October 12th, 2014 at 2:49 AM ^
showed it even more conclusively: the Penn State player's head and torso were across the restraining line before the kick.
Furthermore, as one NCAA official explained it, there is no real enforcement on a normal long kick, however, " Conversely, on an on-side kick or short kick officials are very strict and enforce the restraining line restriction" (http://en.allexperts.com/q/College-Football-2792/2011/3/offside-kickoff…).
So, no gift was given, even though it may have seemed a rather close call.
October 12th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
I've heard a few people argue that he was "not that far offside, maybe just an inch". But, how do you call the rule then? Is 6 inches enough to be offside? Or is it a foot? How do they judge that?
It makes sense to not enforce it much on long kicks, though
October 12th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
They "judge" just about every call. That's their job.
They should not have made that call. All it did was give Penn State something to whine about.
October 12th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
that now you're worried about what opponent fans think should their team lose to Michigan?
October 12th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
I guess what I'm saying is it doesn't matter how close it was...offsides is offsides. And yeah it was close, and yeah nobody would have noticed if they didn't throw the flag. But a penalty is still a penalty.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:31 PM ^
after each of the last 3 weeks, I really wanted to not care, not watch.
But I watched what was one ugly ballgame, and damn if it didn't feel good to see DG cheering on the sidelines while barely being able to stand. (I do wonder if his accuracy is better when he can't run.)
So proud of these kids for getting up for this game, making some key plays and just winning it.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:33 PM ^
HAIL!
October 12th, 2014 at 8:58 PM ^
just not the same energy in my body. Does save me 5 hours of driving - but that's not enough to make up for having to watch some game I don't give a shit about. Hopefully I can get on the golf course!
Go Blue!
October 11th, 2014 at 11:36 PM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:38 PM ^
There is at least one Michigan "fan" who was unhappy with the win tonight
October 12th, 2014 at 3:43 AM ^
One could argue that if a supposed UM fan is unhappy with a win, that person is not a UM fan.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
Blue! I'm watching them again on The Final Drive and they just look better and better. I resolve we wear these blue uniforms for ever ever ever and fire Dave immediately.
October 12th, 2014 at 1:13 AM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
We should do this more often
October 11th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
Winning a game we expect to lose feels different that winning a game we expect to win.
Glad to see M out there gritting and gutting it out.
Go Blue!
October 12th, 2014 at 1:18 AM ^
Yeah, but I don't like this newfound feeling of "expecting to lose." I'd like the team to do something that rids us of that feeling forever.
October 12th, 2014 at 1:43 AM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
The Minnesota loss isnt looking as totally sucky as it did before. They beat the Northwestern team that beat Penn State and looked good doing it. I know I am deluding myself, but any ray of light looks good.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:01 AM ^
Michigan could have beaten Minny if Gardner had started.
October 12th, 2014 at 4:14 AM ^
And that single idiotic coaching decision might be the one that costs Hoke his job.
October 12th, 2014 at 7:48 AM ^
Sitting Devin, while costly in the short term, may bear fruit longterm. He seems more zeroed in and I'm seeing less of the sloppy mechanics (they've still been their on the ints against Rutgers and PSU). Admittedly I'm no QB coach but the first couple games it seemed like DG was just willing the offense and that got us into trouble against halfway decent defensive plays.
October 12th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
In actuality that is the antithesis of a fact. There is absolutely no way of knowing what would have happened had Gardner started. After all he did start against Utah, Rutgers, and ND...did he not?
October 12th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
figure that? We won tonight, but Gardner didn't look great. I find it comical how people think we would have won against Minny...our defense got torched. Gardner also played against Utah and ND. No doubt he is our best option, however, that doesn't mean he is great.
October 12th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 3:45 AM ^
The Utah loss isnt looking all that bad either. Are we at the point where we can proclaim that at the beginning of the season UM looked to have an easy schedule, we now realize UM has a difficult schedule? ND, Utah and Minnesota look legit.
October 12th, 2014 at 5:48 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Has Michigan been reduced to this? Come on man.
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